10 Horror Movies That Turned Out Nothing Like You Were Promised

1. Scream

Scream Casey Becker Drew Barrymore
Dimension Films

Despite having the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and the fantastic People Under the Stairs to his name, it's Scream which stands up as Wes Craven's true masterpiece.

Hitting cinemas in 1996, Scream completely changed the game when it comes to slasher movies and the larger world of horror, period. Craven masterfully managed to poke fun at the tired tropes of the genre, whilst also delivering a film full of genuine terror.

How did Scream turn out differently to what audiences expected? Why, that's in how it made the genius call to kill off Drew Barrymore in less than 15 minutes.

At that point in time, Barrymore was handily the biggest name involved in Scream, and her face was the one leading the charge in any and all promotional material for the film. Billed as being the traditional 'final girl' of this '96 picture, it was taken for granted that Drew's Casey Becker would make it through to the end of the movie.

Instead, Casey is brutally slaughtered in Scream's hugely impactful opening sequence, with Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott instead the lead character of the movie and the greater Scream franchise.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.